BEA and BBC, Part 2

Sorry for the lateness of this post, better late then never, right?

So, when people who have been to the BEA before you give advice, listen.  The best advice I received was, wear comfortable shoes.  Actually, even with my most comfortable shoes my feet were killing me by the end of day 1.  The Javitis Center in NYC is HUGE!

On the first day of the BEA I just wondered around and got my bearings.  I also meet some really nice people and got a few books.  Actually, another blogger had told me before I went, to really limit the number of author signings I attend because I would miss out on a lot of other stuff.  I thought I could just go to the publishers and request the books I wanted, without having them signed.  However, that certainly wasn’t the case this year.  To get most of the books I wanted, I had to line up at the signings.  I missed out on some books I wanted because I didn’t figure it out until late in the first day.  Don’t cry for me though, I got plent of books.  LOL!

I spent a lot of time networking with various publishers about So Many Precious Books and Premier Virtual Author Book Tours.  I met some really cool people that way. I handed out tons on business card and received tons back.  I am way behind in following up with people via email.

I didn’t take many pictures, I somehow kept forgetting that I had a camera in my purse.  My bad!  I only got pictures of two authors.

Jane Fonda, promoting her book, Prime Time

I have to admit that the only reason I lined up for Jane Fonda’s autograph was because I wanted to meet the movie icon.  I don’t usually get so star struck.

I also attended the Harper Collin’s Cocktail Party on Wednesday night at a bar by Central Park.  It was so crowded that the minute I saw a familiar face I planted myself down at a table and pretty much stayed there the entire time.  It was too many people in a very small space.  I’m not very good at “mingling” but I really enjoyed the company of the other bloggers I sat with.  We even went out to dinner together when we left the party.  Another, I wish I would have taken a photo moment. (:

Now for the Book Blogger Conference:

The keynote speaker, Sara Wendall of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books was awesome.  She came across as a professional speaker.  It was a great start to the conference, actually one of the best parts!  

After the keynote speaker, the morning and afternoon sections were broken into two and you could take your pick.  I attended Ask a Publisher or Publicist, Author Speed Dating, Technology for Blogging.  

My favorite was the author speed dating.  I only knew one of the authors the, M.L. Malcolm but I met some really interesting authors.  I added books I hadn’t heard of before that to my TBR.  The only thing is I didn’t get to meet all of the authors there.  I think there were two factors, not enough time and dis-organization.  I’m not saying this to be mean, after all, this was only the second evetr BBC and first ever author speed dating.  I don’t think organizers stuck to the same amount of time for each set of authors.  Also, you had to pick which side of the room you were going to be in, the one for adult authors or the one for YA.  I would have loved to attend both but I chose the Adult side.  I wish they could have have the author speed dating broken up into two different times so you could attend both.

Because I’m a vegan, I special ordered my lunch.  I want to thank the BBC organizers, especially Michelle to making sure it was there for me!  I can’t tell you how many times I have ordered a special meal for a conference or other event and it wasn’t there.  Thanks again!!

During breakfast and lunch there were tables with books and swag to build your own swag bag.  Initially, I only took one book but after meeting a couple of the authors, I grabbed a couple more.

I also want to thank M.L. Malcolm for the margaretta at the BBC cocktail party, the night before the BBC Conference.  It was great chatting with you and I love your hats!

So how many books did I bring home, do you wonder?  I went to the post office after the BBC ended with all the books that I received over the week and they weighed, drumroll please…

45 lbs!  Thanks goodness for the media rate in the U.S.A. it only cost $20.00 to ship them to my brother’s P.O. Box right across the boarder.  Once they arrived I only had a 45 minute drive to pick them up and a 20 minute wait time at the boarder.  So what do 45 lbs of books look like and what books did I get?

Sorry, I’m just not up for listing them all individually.  I guess you could say I got just a tiny, tiny bit carried away! LOL!  I still have no idea where I’m going to put all of them.  They are still sitting on the same table in my office where I took the photo of them.

Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.